This chapter traces the development of the magazine medium in Japan, with a specific focus on men’s magazines. Elaborating on the content of the early magazines for men appearing in the late 19th and 20th centuries, the focus shifts to a “new kind” of men’s magazines that boomed in the 1990s. Using the magazine BiDaN as an example, this chapter elaborates on how these magazines were structured, how they differed in content from their predecessors, and how the idea of masculinity they construct can be read as an exemplification of changing gender perceptions of society.

Introduction

Magazines are among Japan’s most visible print products and as such one of its most prominent artefacts of popular culture. Kiosks and bookshops brim over with an uncountable number of journals geared towards an equally vast array of different target audiences. One section of the magazine market that is relatively new and propelled in size during the 1990s are magazines for men. This chapter discusses the development and current state of Japanese men’s magazines with the aim of understanding the meaning of this medium for its audiences and Japanese society in general. It will elaborate on the history and characteristics of the magazine medium in Japan, focusing on the emergence of magazines that cater towards gendered target audiences and, in so doing, will discuss the meaning of a product of popular culture with regard to the gender perceptions of society. Focusing on the appearance of men’s magazines in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the chapter discusses one example of a typical Japanese lifestyle magazine for young men—the magazine BiDaN. The aim is to show what topics are being addressed in this “new” kind of magazine, how this is done and what the analysis of these magazines reveals about the development of Japanese society.

Products of popular culture allow us to understand the issues being discussed in society. They play a part in the discursive construction of topics that are deemed important or interesting and thus participate in shaping the everyday reality we live in. Hence, analyzing products of popular culture allows us to understand how society is evolving.